


An Echo

by sevenlostkeys



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Damn it Moffat, Darillium (Doctor Who), Drabble, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: 2015 Xmas The Husbands of River Song, Episode: 2017 Xmas Twice Upon a Time, Episode: s04e09 Forest of the Dead, Episode: s07e14 The Name of the Doctor, F/M, Ficlet, Post Darillium, Post-Episode: 2015 Xmas The Husbands of River Song, Post-Episode: 2017 Xmas Twice Upon A Time, Post-Episode: s04e08-09 Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead, Post-Episode: s07e14 The Name of the Doctor, Prompt Fic, Singing Towers of Darillium, Spoilers for Episode: 2015 Xmas The Husbands of River Song, Spoilers for Episode: 2017 Xmas Twice Upon a Time, Spoilers for Episode: s07e14 The Name of the Doctor, Yowzah
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:40:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27623509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevenlostkeys/pseuds/sevenlostkeys
Summary: Even in death, the Doctor had one more surprise for River Song.
Relationships: Eleventh Doctor/River Song, Tenth Doctor/River Song, The Doctor/River Song, Twelfth Doctor/River Song, Yowzah - Relationship
Comments: 3
Kudos: 24





	An Echo

“...How do I say it?” 

“There’s only one way I’d accept,” River Song’s ghost said. 

The Eleventh Doctor waited for instruction, clearly out of his depth. If there’s one woman that befuddled him across the galaxy, it was her. _What happened to time? A woman._

“If you ever loved me, say it like you’re going to come back.” She longed for just one more adventure, even in death. Even like this, a shimmery data ghost made flesh. 

“Well, then.” The Doctor turned on the swagger, snapping his fingers and rolling his shoulders. 

“See you ‘round, Professor River Song.” 

“Till the next time, Doctor.” 

“Don’t wait up.” 

“Oh, there’s one more thing…” 

The Doctor sighed. “Isn’t there always?” 

“I was mentally linked with Clara. If she’s really dead, then how can I still be here?” 

“Okay...how?” 

She had him -- the way she always had him when they were running through time and space together. It was just like the first time she’d met this version. 

“Spoilers.” 

She saw him shake his head and smile wistfully at the gotcha moment. She could go now. She had gotten what she needed all along -- the confirmation that he’d loved her too, even though he’d held her at arm’s length. Because he had been the one that knew what was coming for her, and he couldn’t let her go.

“Goodbye...sweetie.” 

She dissipated from the TARDIS and reappeared in the data core world that the Tenth Doctor had saved her to. That one had done his best, even if he hadn’t known her. Perhaps he had felt the energy between them or maybe he’d simply listened that time. The Doctor was a different person every time she met him and in death came the surprising relief of no longer having to keep up. 

She decided to take a walk around the grounds before going back inside. In that way, this digital afterlife felt a bit like a holiday, there was just no transport back. 

She turned left into the labyrinth garden. The pathways changed every moon phase and it was the only place she could get lost. She wondered if he had even planned that on purpose, knowing she might get restless. The path ebbed and flowed, moving from square angles to circular dips. She wished she could see what it looked like from the sky. There were many days she kept her eyes skyward, an echo of her mother waiting in her back garden one starry night long ago.

That’s what the Eleventh Doctor had said she was: an echo, forever fading into the background. That’s what they’d all become in time, the seconds slipping away into eternity.

There was a rustling among the hedges and River moved in the direction of the sound. Perhaps a bird had glitched out during one of the standard updates, a common problem even after the software being restored properly. She turned a corner and found herself in the middle of the maze. There was a Roman-style marble bench in the middle of the clearing. An elegant older figure was seated on the bench. The figure’s black velvet coat was burnt and torn, their voluminous silver hair glittering in the sun.

_No._ River thought. _Absolutely not. It couldn’t be…_

She swallowed hard. “Hello…?” her voice trailed off.

“...Sweetie!” the figure answered in a boisterous tone. 

_No. That impossible man. He couldn’t have._

The figure turned. He was war-worn and wild-haired. But it was him. It was the Twelfth Doctor. He broke out into a smile and strolled towards her as if this was a completely normal occurrence. 

“How are you even doing that? You can’t really be here.” 

“Spoilers,” The Twelfth Doctor smiled, his gaze intense.

She slapped him then, hard. Mostly to make sure he was real. 

“Explain!” Her eyes were misting up from the dangerous combination of anger and far-flung hope. 

“Well, I had to make sure the upload would work before I gave you your sonic screwdriver,” he said, laying his hands on her shoulders to calm her. “I set it to upload this version of my consciousness along with yours, but it seems I got a bit delayed in the transfer.” 

“Then that means you’ve regenerated…”

“I almost didn’t, out of spite and regret.” 

“What…” Her hand flew up over her mouth. 

“Oh, you know how I can be sometimes,” he said, shrugging. “I had to take a long hard look back at myself to realize it was time to go.” 

“Did it hurt?” 

“Hurting, like time, is relative. It hurt me more to let you go.” 

“You knew.” 

“I always know, unfortunately.” 

“But now…”

“Well, you didn’t think I’d leave you alone for all eternity, did you?” 

She was crying now. She was dead _and_ crying. And he was dead and standing right in front of her.

“You bastard.” 

“You’ve got to admit, I do this better than you,” he teased, raising his eyebrows. 

She grabbed him by his burnt lapels and kissed him. 

He broke the kiss, holding her close, his elegant hands smoothing out her hair.

“You remember what you told me that night in Darillium? _Happily ever after doesn’t mean forever, it just means time._ Well, we have time...forever. Welcome to happy ever after, sweetie.”

**Author's Note:**

> My partner prompted me with this idea and it basically hit like a runaway train. You might need tissues. It's all Steven Moffat's fault, really. (And a very happy birthday to him.)


End file.
